Cushion-stuffing machine



Dec. Z, '1924.

J. H. NELSON CUSHION S'TUFFING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fied April 17,1922 Dec. l2, 1924. 1517,854

. l J. H. NELSON CUSHION STUFF-ING MACHINE Filed April 1'7, 19.22 2Sheets-Sheet 2N @Fo ABQ m4 l 0 Patented ec. 2, 1924.

UNITED SIA'ES Larissa OFFICE.

JOHN H. NELSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, vASSIGrNOR TO PULLIVIAN DAVENPORT& UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION O'FILLINOIS.

CUSHION-STUFFING MACHINE.

Application filed April 1'7, v1922.

T all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Jol-1N I-I. NELSON, a citizen of the United States,residing` at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and use-- ful Improvements in a Cushion-StuiiingMachine, of which the following is a specification.

rIhis invention relates to a machine for filling cushions with anassembled padding, upholstering springs and the like, by the action of aplunger. The principal objects of the invention are: to produce a simplemechanical structure for the purpose described;

to insure that the plunger is returned im'- mediately after its forwardmovement; to prevent the continued operation of the plunger if theoperating means is continuously engaged, to insure that the plunger hasbeen fully retracted before it can be operated; and in general, toproduce the construction herein shown and described.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a machineconstructed in accordance with the principles of this invention; Fig. 2is a plan view of the machine; Fig. 3 is a section of the operatingmechanism; Fig. 4 is a detail of the operating clutch; and Fig. 5 is adetail section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

In a cushion stuffing mechanism of this kind it is customary to have afixed table and a hinge cover each composed of a central fixed plate 4and'adjustable side pieces 5, the edges of which overlap for moving theside pieces 5 to accommodate cushions of different sizes. The cushionstuffing, consisting of upholstering springs, padding, or any suitablematerial, is assembled upon the table, the hinged cover is moved downand clamped in position, the sides 5 are adjustable in width, and acushion cover open at one side is slipped over the extending end of thetable and its cover. The assembled stuffing is then projected by meansof a plunger 6 into the cushion cover which is thereby forced off to theend ofthe table, with the upholstered filling inside of it.

Brackets 7 are provided at the sides of a supporting frame 8, and theside members 5 are adjustable on cross pieces 9 which are attached tosupports 10 pivoted in the brackets 7. These supports carry adjustableweights 11 for counterbalancing the hinged cover.

Serial No. 553,741.

A lever 12 is pivoted at the bottom of the frame with a tread 13 whichmay be engaged by the foot of an operator, and Vconnected to this leverat each side of the frame are arms 14 with hooks 15 at the upper endsadapted to engage pins or projections 16 at the side of each of thesupports 10. Extending between the arms 14 and the frame are springs 17which tend to raise the hook arms so that they are moved to an upwardposition to engage the projection 16 of the cover when it is in apartially lowered position. The cover may be held down by pressure onthe lever 12 and the hooked ends of the arms 14 may lbe moved out of thepath of the projections 16, in releasing the cover, by means of pivotedrelease arms 18 each having a projection 19 to engage the edge of theadjacent arm 14.

Extending rearwardly from the plunger 6 is a plunger rod 20 whichcarries a yoke 21 adjacent its rear end. A bearing block 22 isvertically slidable in this yoke 21 and is carried by a lever 23pivotally mounted at the bottom of the frame 8. Attached intermediatethe ends of the lever 23 is a driving rod 24 which is pivoted betweenthe crank wheels 25 mounted in horizontal bearings at the rear of theframe. A driving gear 26 is also freely mounted on a shaft 27 to whichone of the crank wheels 25 is attached, and between the gear 26 and thiswheel 25 is a clutching mechanism for connecting the gear to the shaftwhen desired. The driving gear is connected to a driving pinion 28mounted on a shaft 29 upon which is a pulley 30 for a belt connection toany suitable source of power.

The clutching mechanism comprises a spring pressed clutch pin 31 carriedby the driving gear 26 and normally pressed toengage in a notch 32 atthe edge of a clutch member 33 which is keyed to the shaft 27. A controlmember 34 has a ring shape portion 35 mounted to swing upon the clutchmember 33, and with an arm 36 for controlling the movement of themember. The movement is effected by means of a rod 37 attached to thearm 36 and connected at the front of the machine to a bell crank 38having a pedal 39 for actuating it by the foot of an operator. The edgeof the ring portion of this control member 34 is preferably in the pathof the clutch pin 31, and at one portion there is a raised surface 40about the length of the notch 32 and of the height of the Outer face ofthe clutch member 33 with an inclined approach 4l in advance of theraised surface.

As the driving gear 26 is rotated it carries with it the clutch pin 3lwhich rides upwardly upon the inclined approach ll and upon the surface410 with each rotation of the gear wheel. If the raised surface l0 isopposite the notch 32, which is the normal position or' the controlmember 34, as indicated by the broken line position of the arm 36 inFig. l, the clutch pin 3l can not drop into engagement with`the notch 32but simply slides around on the outer surface of the clutch member 33.It the arm 36 is moved to the full line position as shown in Fig. 4, theraised surface 40 is moved away from the outer edge of the notch 32 andwhen the clutch pin 31 slides oft of the raised surface 40, it willengage with the notch and will thereupon rotate the clutch member 33 andthe crank wheels 25 one complete revolution. This will actuate theplunger 6 forwardly and rearwardly through its connection with the crankwheels 25, the operating lever 23 and rod 24.

It the operating member 34; is iinin-ediately released by removing thetoot from the pedal 39, the driving shaft 27 and the crank wheels 25,will make one complete revolution only, as the raised portion 40 willagain be in position opposite the normal starting point of the notch 32to throw out the clutch pin 31 when it reaches this point upon eachrotation of the gear. But if, by inadvertence, the foot of an operatoris kept upon the pedal 39, the crank wheels and the shaft 27 will makeslightly less than one complete rotation, as the clutch pin will bethrown out of engagement with the notch 32 as soon as the latter isopposite the raised portion 40, as indicated in Fig. 4. The only waythat the plunger can again be operated is first to remove the foot 'fromthe pedal allowing it and the raised portion l0 of the operating member34 to return to their normal position, as shown by the broken lines inFig. 4. The next time the clutch pin 3l is rotated it will engage thenotch 32 in the broken line position and will move it a short distanceto the full line position only (as shown by Fig. 4) before it is trippedout of engagement by the raised portion 40. As soon as the clutch member33 has been thus returned to its normal starting point, the pedal 39 canbe operated as beulore to con* nect the driving mechanism for a singlecomplete forward and back movement of the plunger 6. This mechanismtherefore constitutes a safety clutch which prevents the continued oraccidental operation of the plunger even if the Operator unintentionallykeeps his foot on the operating pedal 39.

With this construction it is obvious that only a single advance andreturn ot the plunger is possible for each actuation thereof. This notlonly prevents a useless waste of power but it also safeguards theoperator `from any danger that may occur due to the continued orunintentional repetition ot the plunger action. It is obvious that otherchanges may be made in the construction, combination and arrangement ofthe several parts without departing from the spiritand scope of theinvention.

I claim:

l. In a stuihng machine, an adjustable cushion receptacle, areciprocable plunger movable therein, a lever aivoted at one end andhaving a slidable coniiect-ion with the plunger for moving it reversely,a connecting` rod and rotatable means for operating the lever, acontinuously rotating driving member, a spring pressed pin carried bythe driving member, a rotatable means having a recess for receiving thepin and moving it with the driving member, and controlling meansincluding pedal and a movable member operated thereby to cover oruncover the recess at each rotation of the pin whereby it will bedisengaged at each rotation to prevent more than a complete rotation ofthe lever-operating means independent of the position of the pedal.

2. ln a cushion stiiiiing machine, an adjustable cushion receptacle, areciprocable plunger movable therein, a lever connected to the plungerfor operating it reversely, rotatable means for operating the lever,said means including a power element, a driving member movable therewithhaving a notch in one edge, a spring pressed driving pin carried by thepower member and engagable with the driving member, and actuating meansincluding a movable ring with a raised portion for disengaging thedriving pin after no more than one complete rotation of the powermember.

3. In a cushion stufling machine, an adjustable cushion receptacle, a.reciprocable plunger movable there-in, a rotatable power member, adriving` member for rotation therewith, a spring` pressed pin carried bythe power member for engagement with the driving member, and controllingmeans comprising a movable ring with a raised portion adapted to controlthe engagement of the driving pin with the driving member and to limitsuch engagement to not more than one rotation ot the driving member eachtime it is engaged, the engagement being actually less than one rotationif the ring is inadvertently held in the initial pinengaging position.

4L. lin a cushion stu'fiing machine, an ad.- justable cushionreceptacle, a reciprocable plunger movable therein and means torwtuating the plunger reversely, said means comprising a rotatabledriving member., a

rotatable power member, a spring pressed pin carried by the power memberengageable with the driving member, the driving member having a notch inthe edge with which the pin is engageable, a movable ring at the edge ofthe driving member having a raised portion with an inclined approach tocontrol the engagement of the pin in said notch, and a foot lever forcontrolling the movement of the ring, the movement of the raised portionlimiting the engagement of the prin to no more than one completerotation regardless of the position of the foot lever.

5. In a cushion stuffing machine, a hinged cover with projections at theouter free sides thereof, a foot lever, a pair of arms connected to thelever having hooks at the upper ends for automatic engagement with thecover projections when the cover is lowered, and pivoted arms connectedfor j ointoperation having projections for Iforcing the hooks out ofvengagement with the cover projections.

6. In a cushion stuiiing machine, a hinged cover with projections at theouter free sides thereof, a foot lever', arms at opposite sidesconnected to the lever having hooks at' the upper ends for engagementwith the cover projections, resilient means tending to hold the hooksupwardly for engagement with the cover projections in a raised position,and means for forcing the hooks out of engage ment with the coverprojections in their lower position.

7. In a cushion stuffing machine, a hinged cover, a foot lever, meansincluding a pair o f hooks movable upwardly and connected to the footlever for drawing the cover downwardly, and means for simultaneouslyreleasing the hooks from engagement with the cover.

JOHN H. NELSON.

